Page 79 of Touch Me Not

“Adam, you’re drunk and not thinking straight. It’s the booze talking. Go to sleep, and you’ll forget all this in the morning.”

“I’m drunk, Lily, but not nearly that drunk,” he said softly. “I know what I’m saying.”

“Adam, you love Sue,” she said, trying desperately to remind him. Why now? Was it just a response to her telling him she was in love with Nikoli?

“Yeah, I do love Sue,” he agreed. “I loved her enough to ask her to marry me.”

“Then why are you saying you love me and not her?” Lily searched his eyes, and she saw a truth there she would have jumped up and down for a few months ago, but not now.

“Because I’m a blind fool,” he said bitterly. “My mom said something to me when I told her about the engagement. She said I was foolish for not seeing what was right in front of me. I didn’t understand what she meant, but I do now. When I thought I lost you, I went a little nuts. I kept thinking of how much I hurt you and the look on your face when you told me to get out. Thethought of losing you, it broke me. I can’t imagine my world without you, Lily.”

Her heart stuttered at the shattered sound of his voice, and a single tear slipped down her cheek. Why couldn’t he have said this even a few weeks ago? She loved him, but she loved Nikoli more.

“You’re the one I want, Lily, the one I want to marry, to have kids with, the one I want to grow old with. Just you.”

“Adam…”

“Please, Lily, tell me you love me, that you’ll marry me, please.”

Her heart broke. She saw the truth of what he was saying on his face, heard it in his voice. Drunk he might be, but he was being honest with her, maybe because he was drunk. It might have given him the courage he needed to tell her all this. Liquid courage, Mike called it. He’d heard the expression in some old western his dad had made him watch. It fit.

“I…”

“Don’t say anything now,” he interrupted her. “Just think about it, okay?”

“You might wake up and regret all this in the morning.”

“No, Lily, I only regret it took an ass like Kincaid to make me realize how much I love you and how badly I hurt you. Just promise to think about it, please? Just think about you and me and everything we’ve shared, about all we could share in the future? That’s all I’m asking, to just think about it.”

“Okay,” she whispered, and he lay back down. When he didn’t say anything else, Lily turned over and stared at the wall. Her mind felt fuzzy. She was so tired, and now it was full of thoughts and questions about how she felt, about everything.

Why the hell had Adam decided to spring this on her tonight?

And what was she going to do when they both woke up?

Nikoli whistled as he walked down the hallway to Lily’s dorm room. It was nine, and he figured she’d had enough time to sleep. He told himself he was here because he wanted to hear her thoughts on the game, but honestly, he just wanted to see Lily. He knocked on her door and shouted, “Wake up, Lily Bells!”

The next thing he heard was a loud thump and Lily cursing worse than a sailor. He laughed, just thinking of her face. She must have fallen out of bed. When she wrenched her door open, his smile faded. Adam was passed out on the floor.

“Shhh,” she whispered and pulled him inside. “He’s still asleep.”

“What’s he doing here?” Nikoli demanded, the caveman inside yelling “mine.”

“He showed up drunk early this morning, and I let him sleep on the floor,” she said, her voice weary. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to take you to breakfast.” She looked tired. “Did you sleep?”

“Some,” she said, yawning. “I was playing your game all night, and then this one woke me up less than an hour after I passed out.”

“Come on,” he said, “let me take you to breakfast, and then you can go sleep at the apartment.”

She yawned again and glanced at Adam before nodding. “He’ll sleep most of the day. He sleeps like the dead when he’s drunk. Let me go to the bathroom, and then we’ll leave.”

Lily grabbed her toothbrush and toothpaste before leaving. Once she was gone, Nikoli turned his attention to Adam. He couldn’t figure out what Lily saw in Boy Wonder. He wasaverage, generic. He also had bad taste in women. Sue was an empty-headed shrew with a care for no one but herself. Nikoli had the chance to fuck her in his sophomore year, but even he had standards. Sue was a real piece of work, and he’d nipped her in the bud before she could get past hello.

Adam, unfortunately, was beginning to understand his feelings for Lily. Nikoli wouldn’t be surprised if he dumped the Barbie for Lily. Just the thought of Adam and Lily together set his teeth to grinding. They would be good together, though. They’d get married and have the traditional two kids and a dog to go along with the white picket fence. Lily would have everything she ever wanted. She’d be happy. She deserved to be happy.

She deserved better than him.

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